


Not All Heroes Wear Capes

by DestinyFreeReally



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, superhero au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-16
Updated: 2017-11-12
Packaged: 2018-09-08 21:01:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 6,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8861893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DestinyFreeReally/pseuds/DestinyFreeReally
Summary: Swan Queen Superhero AU cause i'm the worst.





	1. Chapter 1

     After a few deep breaths, Emma pulled on the mask, a ski mask, dark and soft and  _stupid_ , she told herself, and crept out of the parking garage; instinct telling her to stick to the shadows. The yelling hadn't quieted, a man grabbing a girl by the shoulders and another punching out what seemed to be her date.   
  
    "Hey," Emma said sweetly, and tapped the shoulder of the big one holding the girl. "Oh  _good_ , I have your attention."  
  
    Spinning his face to meet her fist, Emma freed the girl first, brushing her aside, hoping she would use common sense and start running any second. Emma punched only once more and the man was sprawled flat on the campus lawn, a secret smile under her mask. She'd been working on her form.   
  
     The two other men still struggled, one sitting on top of the other punching furiously, and regardless of the situation Emma figured she should break it up. Grabbing the top man by his hair, Emma yanked him to the ground.   
  
     "Stay down," She sing-songed a warning while he recovered. The girl she'd pushed away still stood, open mouthed, until she ran to the man who'd been getting punched into the sidewalk.   
  
     "Who  _are_ you?" The girl looked up at her, kneeling, and Emma was sort of at a loss.   
  
     "I'm-"  
  
      "My  _savior_." The man reached up to shake her hand, but Emma shrugged him off. He'd need to go to hospital; they both should. His face was covered in blood, nose and mouth both bleeding.   
  
     "I saw you guys needed help. The cops should be here any minute. He'll be out for a while," Emma sighed at the unconscious one, still secretly smiling about it. "And  _you_ ," Emma reached into the waistband of the one still wailing about his scalp. Her hands found cold metal and she rolled her eyes. "I don't  _like_ guns. Pass that along for me, will you?"  
  
    Swiftly, she dumped the cartridge onto the man's face, making him groan again and tossed the gun away to leave for the cops. Then she started her escape.   
  
    "Wait! How can we thank you?" The girl's question went unanswered and Emma tried to make herself disappear into the night, just as the campus police pulled up.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes, Regina's dating Robin for a sec but it's in no way an outlaw queen fic. we're gonna get through these trying times.

     Regina Mills. The girl she'd protected was Regina fucking Mills. Daughter of the president of the university, and a staff writer for the Storybrooke U Gazette.  _Great_. Weren't superheroes supposed to cultivate some kind of cult-like mystique first? Emma feigned disinterest in the front page article, even as phrases like 'swooped into action' and 'bravely defended' were being used about  _her_. She'd really meant the other night to be an experiment, just a test run, see if she could use her  _powers_ in any sort of urgent capacity, not just moving dorm furniture around for Ruby. But her  _experiment_ , her  _beta test_ , had yielded three days of non-stop press, all thanks to Regina Mills. The boyfriend, apparently Robin Locksley, was quoted saying, "thanks to the Savior," and that was beginning to stick in all the spin off news.   
  
      _The Savior_. It sounded oddly and uncomfortably religious to Emma. A bigger deal than punching out two goons really was. None of the articles happened to mention why the daughter of the university president would be a target on campus; just that the  _Savior_ had beat them up and the cops had played clean up crew.   
  
    She wasn't scared anyone knew; no one knew. She'd been more careful about that than anything in her life. But this was  _out of the beta test_ territory and Emma wasn't sure what that really meant yet.   
  
     "Emma, let's read on your break, okay?" Mary Margaret's voice carried gently across the diner; Emma liked her, she was usually more friend than manager. When Emma was focused, anyway.   
  
     Days ago, saving people from 'bad guys' and now saving people from hunger in Granny's diner. Emma poured coffee for an elderly couple, playing with the fabric of her black t-shirt.   
  
     What if she couldn't do both?


	3. Chapter 3

     Her mother calls it an obsession. She isn't opposed to it yet, necessarily-  _The Savior_ certainly sells newspapers- but Regina watches her mother's eyes rake over her work and she would rather pull out all her teeth or gnaw off her own arm. But  _The Savior_ provided an opportunity for some real investigative journalism; Regina wanted to run with that as far as she could. They don't talk about the actual incident much- why Regina should be at risk on campus- but her mother's lips pursed tight and said she'd handled it. Naive years ago, Regina might've been relieved, but now mostly dread took up space in chest for the things her mother handled.  
  
     Regina had tried the parking lot security cameras where she'd watched  _The Savior_ run off to- but they only kept 24 hours of tape and she'd been too late to look for traces of the masked girl. There were reported sightings all over campus, with everyone swearing their roommate has a ski mask and was probably the Savior. Regina didn't bother fighting an eyeroll.   
  
   Her heels clicked out of her mother's office, across campus to the paper's offices. She's not to door yet, just outside the main entrance, when a shuffle of black and shadow catches her eye in the dusk.   
  
     "Savior?" Regina's voice is accusatory and after a second she heard a labored sigh.   
  
     "That's  _not_ my name." Emma tucked herself against the corner of the building, hoping dusk would give her enough cover for this conversation.  
  
     "Well. What  _is_ your name?" Regina smiled, eyes scanning the almost-dark.  
  
     "Nice try." Emma could see Regina looking for her. She didn't look afraid though, not shaken like the other night.   
  
     "Occupational hazard; I had to try. Is this a formal interview?" Crossing her arms, Regina wondered how long they had before someone else came along.  
  
     " _No._ " Emma almost came out of hiding. "Look, I... could you  _stop_ writing about me? It was just... I'm not a  _superhero_ or anything, I was..."  
  
     "You saved  _me."_ Regina huffed. "Wordplay unintended. Don't you have some sort of.. supernatural abilities?"  
  
     "I have six toes."  
  
     " _Really_?" Regina's brows knit together, thrown by  _that_ admission- certainly nothing like she'd expected to hear.   
  
     "Yup and three eyes. Hence the mask." Emma smiled and watched Regina's fists ball up and her eyes roll. "I'm...strong. Like, not go to the gym strong just...just, really strong."  
  
      "And quick," Regina's eyebrow quirked, remembering  __the Savior getting her out of her attacker's arms. "But I mean as far as... x-ray vision or anything?"  
  
     "Of  _course_ x-ray vision. Nice bra, by the way. They don't sell those at Wal-mart." Emma watched Regina stiffen, and then relax again.   
  
     "You're joking." Regina didn't mean it to sound so much like a question.   
  
      "Us humans do that from time to time, you know." Emma watched Regina smile slowly.   
  
     "So you  _are_ human, then?" She would be late meeting Robin, but how often did she get to interview a superhero.  
  
     "Duh. How  _much_ science fiction do you read?"Emma fought the urge to pretend she was an alien, just to see how much this girl would believe from her. "Gotta go, Regina. Good talk. Stop printing about me. And start carrying some mace or something, jeez. I followed you for like a block and a half before you said anything."  
  
     "You  _know me_?" Just like that, Regina lost her breath, mind reeling through people in her life- trying to match a voice to a face that didn't wear a ski mask.   
  
      "You're the school president's daughter. Everyone knows you. Be careful." Emma took off, her heart beating too hard to ignore it. 


	4. Chapter 4

     Emma let a few days of newspaper silence roll by before she put the mask back on again. Or even took it out from the back of her underwear drawer. Truthfully, she was surprised Regina Mills could take direction from anyone, but then again maybe that was just the reverberations of gratitude for helping her. Word on campus was Regina and her mother were.. certainly a pair of women who got what they wanted. And for a brief stint of reality, Emma figured Regina had wanted her real identity. Part of the deal with herself, what made it okay to put on the mask in the first place, was that no one would know.  _No one could_. Unless she died or something dramatic and then... well, she wouldn't really have had to deal with that fall out, right?  
  
    She sticks to stopping small crimes, the outskirts of campus; stopping muggers at the ATM, scaring away bike thieves. Taking the whole two-footed leap into the spotlight had been a mistake, she'd learned that by flailing in the waters of anonymous infamy. But she could still do good in small, invisible doses. Even if people insisted on calling her the Savior when she wore the mask.   
  
    The police scanner had been an investment she hadn't really prepared to use; just something  _in case of_ her experiment working out. But she'd developed a habit of leaving it on in the dorm room when she was alone. She'd picked up the language, the BOLO's (Be On The Lookout), the JDLR's (Just Doesn't Look Right), she can tell when the cops are going to blow off a case; when their comments aren't sincere, they hit her ear strangely, and that's what makes her take the mask out.   
  
     Emma Swan, the girl, university student, diner waitress, avoids Regina Mills' world easily. They have one class together, Advanced Criminology, and Regina's head barely picks up from her notes or her phone. Not that Emma's worried about being recognized.  _Mask_ and everything. But  _the Savior_ had a harder time making herself scarce around Regina. She's not  _stalking_ her, it's not like that, Emma just notices Regina usually works extremely late and she's always hyperfocused on something else besides her surroundings.  _It makes sense_ , to keep an eye on her once in awhile, Emma's sure; she'd been the driving force behind finding out who  _the Savior_ was. Emma just made sure Regina Mills never got too close; or anywhere at all with the story, in fact. Emma decided to take  _making sure_ _Regina got to her car safely_ to her cold, cold grave. 


	5. Chapter 5

     After twelve days without a word from  _the Savior_ , Regina thinks the term  _obsession_ may actually have been applicable. She'd been seen around campus of course, giving girls back their purses and helping kittens from trees. Regina felt like her wheels were spinning in thick, cakey mud. Her first foray into investigative journalism and what she was investigating had asked her to  _stop_. Well, to stop printing. Regina hadn't violated anything by simply  _looking into_ the Savior's whereabouts and girls on campus fitting her description. She felt herself staring at every girl around 5'3" just a  _little_ too hard, always listening for the Savior's voice to mock her again.  _Six toes._    
  
    There was almost a shame in it, the mystery part of it she couldn't solve. It was almost  _fun,_ of course, but almost embarrassing. Thin layer of cotton and a few shadows and it was like this woman was a big, mocking, question mark. Once or twice, Regina's walking across campus in the dark and she's sure she's being followed. She's sure someone's there, lurking or stalking or just  _there_ , whether it's the Savior or not, Regina always turns too late, never catches any proof. Robin thinks she's losing it, not getting enough sleep or drinking too much coffee, so she stops mentioning it to him. But she  _feels_ it, late at night, like a hum in her pulse. And after twelve days without seeing the Savior again, she's ready to confront her nerves.   
  
     "I know you're there." She raised her voice a little above a whisper, stopped in front of her car.   
  
     "Well that's a first. Second, I guess, but still." Emma hadn't been  _waiting_ , exactly for Regina to say something. She'd stayed careful to be quiet and distanced. But Emma figured eventually they'd talk again. Woman to mask.   
  
     "Why are you  _following_ me. I stopped writing about you."  _Writing about you,_ Regina picks her words intentionally. There's a rumor that the Savior can tell when you're lying, and Regina doesn't buy it but she's not going to be embarrassed if it's true. She's stopped guessing totally what the Savior's about; she  _is_ wildly curious though.   
  
     "Maybe I just wanna make sure you're okay. You  _were_ the victim of a violent attack, you know." Emma eyed the Mercedes that cost more than their tuition, and there's a nagging that the soft spot she's developed for Regina Mills is entirely unfounded. That just because the girl puts in sixteen hour days like they're  _fun_ doesn't mean they'd ever get along in... Real life; or whatever happens when Emma's not wearing her mask. Not that they get along when she  _is_ wearing it. "Thanks, by the way. For stopping the presses."  
  
     Emma caught Regina's lip twitch to a smile in the car's window reflection, and she released a breath she denied holding.   
  
     "There's other news besides you, Savior. And if you haven't noticed in all your stalking that I'm  _fine_ , we can certainly rule out you having superior eyesight." Regina was wrong; confrontation hadn't eliminated the hum at all. The Savior's explicit presence was more fun, more adrenaline pumping, more exhilarating than just assuming she was in tow. "Perhaps you rethought my interview offer?"  
  
     "There's not really any kind of interesting story here." Emma shrugged. "Not when you polish out all the personal details, anyway. And I'm not gonna give you those."  
  
     "To protect your loved ones?" Regina's tone's gone soft to Emma's ear in a strange way.   
  
     "To protect myself," Emma scoffed.   
     


	6. Chapter 6

     "So  _no_ one knows then?"  _What kind of superhero didn't_ tell _anyone_ , Regina thought. She thought about who she told her secrets to.  _The kind who didn't have anyone to tell._  
  
 _"_ My roommate suspects, I guess? But.. _."_ Emma hadn't been  _avoiding_ Ruby over this exactly. She'd just been... avoiding their room when she knew Ruby would be there. "No one knows."  
  
     "So you  _are_ a student, then?" Regina almost turned around to face the girl. Maybe see her eyes again, get a longer look at her, really... She didn't dare move yet, though. First contact in twelve days, she didn't want to scare the superhero off now.  
  
     "Well...yeah, I thought you knew  _that_."   
  
      "I was just  _confirming_." Regina snapped. "You know what happens when you assume... _So_ , what's your major?"  
  
     "Why on  _earth_ would I tell you that?" Emma sighed, arms down at her sides.   
  
     "You know what I think? I think you  _want_ someone to share the secret with. Someone to pull up the mask, you know? Has to be incredibly lonely, night after night, protecting people who don't know to thank you by your real name. Or even one you don't loathe." Regina turned around then, not wasting another second without a glimpse at the Savior. Poking from the back of the mask, under a loose hood, Regina could see wisps of blonde hair, waved and curled. A blonde university student with an unknown major. It wouldn't get her the Pulitzer, but maybe it'd get Regina closer to an identity for the Savior. And it was more than she'd had to go on just this morning. "If I guessed right would you tell me?"  
  
     "No."  
  
      "Fine. Then what  _do_ you want me to know?" Regina huffed, eyes lingering on the Savior's well-worn boots. Faded black, with deep treads that were beginning to wear. Regina flicked her eyes up to the Savior's masked face, finally, and released a breath she hadn't meant to hold. In the daylight, the Savior's eyes buried a warm gold between their blues and greens.  _A blue eyed blonde,_ Regina sighed,  _typical._    
  
     Emma struggled with herself for a moment and fought the urge to pull the mask tighter or run.   
  
      "Just that you've got a friend if you need one. In like, emergency capacities, obviously. There's... a bit of chatter, I don't know how much reaches you..." Emma had kept her ear to the ground in all matters concerning Regina Mills, and the  _chatter_ was the very least of her concerns. "I've heard that some pretty bad guys want to ransom you back to your mother for money I probably couldn't even count." She rushed the words, feeling awkward with Regina's eyes fixated on hers the whole time.   
  
     One of the local criminal outfits Emma had taken to keeping an eye out for was reportedly working with one of Storybrooke's new big bads; a guy named Gold, who supposedly had his dirty hands in every kind of shady business there was. Emma had a  _feeling_ , an inkling his organization had something to do with Regina's attack, and she wasn't ready to discard that feeling to protect herself just yet. Maybe she'd have to start picking on bigger fish than purse snatchers.   
  
     "So not a math major then, huh?" Regina deadpanned. "Let me guess, you're here to tell me to be careful again?" Mouth curled around the words into an eventual smile, the lift in Regina's eyebrows making Emma's throat inexplicably dry. "To not trust anyone?"  
  
     Emma nodded slow, sorry to do it.   
  
     "No danger there," Regina sighed, putting her back to Emma to jam her car key in its lock with a  _click_. "I already don't."  
  
      


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> tw for drug mentions, in the criminal organizational capacity

    Emma's body was frozen solid; stone-cold, total stall-out, right in the middle of the diner. The door had done it's on-open jingle, and Regina goddamn Mills had strolled in, natural as you please, greeted by the hostess and sat at a table in Emma's section. Any  _day_ Emma was going to get to Regina's table. As soon as her lungs did the breathing thing and her brain did the thinking thing, and the memo worked it's way all the way down to her feet that she was supposed to be taking Regina Mills' fucking Saturday morning brunch order.  _Clark Kent,_ Emma thought.  _Man of Steel must have been a misnomer for nerves of steel._ Emma felt drawn and quartered and Regina was just sitting in her booth, reapplying her blush, apparently oblivious to the chaos she'd invited into Emma's quiet shift.   
  
    Like a kid in trouble, Emma's brain calculated the odds of turning herself in or risking the embarrassment of being called out. She swept her hair up into a quick bun, plastered on her fakest flight attendant smile, and prayed to the patron saint of Clark Kent. Obviously he'd done something right to get away with it for all those years. Work of fiction factor aside.  
  
    "Welcome to Granny's. What can I get you, hon?" Emma spooned small-townsy cheer onto her small-townsy cheer, keeping her voice light and crisp and foreign even to her own ears. Her cheeks burned with grinning under four solid seconds of Regina's staring up at her, until she finally blinked back down at her menu. Eggs benedict, whole wheat toast, and a dark and sweet coffee. Emma wanted to find some meaning in that but there wasn't time to have a profound breakfast moment  _and_ run away from the table. The diner's door jingled again, and Emma knew Clark Kent's was a fake deity to behold then, because Robin Locksley strode in to find Regina smiling her hello from her booth.   
  
    Since Emma had been poking around Mr. Gold's criminal affairs, Robin Locksley's role in Regina's life had changed from where Emma could see it. Boyfriend, date, someone to hold her purse; Emma had a bad feeling that he was putting Regina in danger, at risk. That maybe he had been even the night Emma met them. Well, _the Savior_   had met them, technically. Emma chewed a fingernail watching them embrace and share the booth. If she'd talked it out with Ruby, it would have been suggested that Emma was jealous. But the flushed feeling in her face and the unease at his presence wasn't mere jealousy. He was involved with Gold and in bed with Regina; metaphorically, at least. And that just couldn't be a good thing. But  _Emma_ certainly couldn't give Regina dating advice, and  _the Savior_ had tried to keep her distance since their last  _talk_ a few days ago. Before she'd really started going after Gold.   
  
    Drug smuggling, people trafficking, petty gambling rings; if Emma  _could_ have she might have respected the man. His organization was vast and deeply embedded in the criminal underbelly of Storybrooke. But bringing his crimes onto campus, going after Regina Mills, even if Emma couldn't figure out the  _how_ or  _why_ exactly, Emma was determined to stop him where the law enforcement wouldn't. All of Gold's men were brazen; Emma had watched the drug hand-offs on campus and heard about the supplies running through frat houses and small dealers. As well as the criminal enterprise ran, using kids as drug pushers backfired; when questioned, they talked. And they talked openly. Gold's organization thought itself untouchable, protected, and bigger than right or wrong. Emma couldn't tackle morality necessarily, but she figured she had at least twice as much strength in her pinky finger than it would take to scare Robin off.  _At the right time,_ her mind bit. And the right time was certainly  _not_ when Mary Margaret was scolding her for not taking the eggs benedict to the table.   
  
    On the bright side, maybe if she received terrible service Regina Mills would steer clear of  _Granny's;_ Emma could only hope.   
  
    

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have the next couple chapters written, in need of some quick editing, but this story's gonna pick up a bit pace-wise. just a baby heads up


	8. Chapter 8

     Emma ignored the Bond soundtrack taunting her in her head as she short-circuited the power to the buildings' security cameras. It was only a temporary short, an extra precaution since she was breaking and entering into an offical campus building. With any luck no one would even know she'd been there. Well, with the exception of...  
  
     Even in the dark, Regina' desk was rife with it's predictable organization and minimalist trademarkings. Emma plucked a pen from the top drawer and scribbled on the back of something unimportant looking.   
  
     ' _Been rethinking my PR situation.  
        Give me a call.  
      Untraceable- I promise.  
      #242-555-7324  
      Love,  
         S'_ __  
  
She'd meant the 'love' to be mocking and didn't want to spend too much time thinking about it. Paper slipped under the keyboard, Emma went back out the window she'd climbed into. It wasn't about PR- Emma couldn't care less about PR. She saw people's faces when she helped them- the relief in them, the gratitude; that was enough, even if campus police _was_ calling for her masked head on a stick. But Emma needed to talk to Regina- she'd insisted their relationship exist only in an  _emergency_ basis and was starting to feel like emergency was pending.   
  
     Regina sat at her desk, placed down her to-go coffee and  _spotted it_. Tucked under her keyboard, a note from the Savior. _S_ , as she affectionately signed it. Grabbing her pen and notepad, Regina took a deep breath before dialing and still felt breathless on the first ring.   
  
     At 8:06, Emma's phone rang and of course Regina Mills started her Monday mornings at her desk at 8 am.   
  
     "You got my message." Emma smiled, biting back a tease that the Savior worked the nightshift, and didn't Regina know  _that_ without an interview?  
  
     "I see you went through my desk." Regina's fingers practically cramped from aching to take notes on the call.   
  
     "I borrowed a pen, that's it. Savior's honor." Emma heard the girl stifle a chuckle and tried not to be surprised at it. Ruby always said she could be charming when she wanted to be.   
  
    "So you're serious, then? About an  _interview_." Regina kept her voice low, even as the office was hardly bustling yet. Quickly, her mind decided she wanted the face-to-face. Phone interviews lacked all the non-verbal cues of truth.   
  
     Emma sighed, and felt like this was going to way more trouble than breaking into the newspaper's office had been.   
  
   "It's not unconditional, you know. I want final editing and veto power. You put anything in I don't approve of, or give it misleading context I swear I'll use my laser vision on you." Sitting up in bed, Emma kicked off her blanket and waited for Regina's protest.   
  
    "I  _know_ you don't have laser vision. _None_ of the people you've saved have reported laser vision. And I already have an editor, who's been pushing me to follow my gut on you." Regina's eyes flicked to Kathryn's desk, still empty since it was early. It was an office joke, the Lois Lane quips about the Savior having a pet reporter in Regina. Regina didn't know if Superman ever gave Lois her interview. "What made you change your mind?"  
  
    "Just wanted to make your day, I guess."   
  
    "Does the newspaper's roof work for you? Tonight? Say.... 8 o'clock?" Regina's teeth held her bottom lip for a moment.  
  
    "Make it 8:30 and you've got yourself an interview date." Emma would be on her diner shift til 8, 8:30 would give her enough time to change and get her story together. Probably.  
  
    "That sounds perfect." Regina didn't bother masking her enthusiasm. This was an interview with Storybrooke's own friendly neighborhood Spidergirl.   
  
     "Perfect." Emma repeated, nerves about to take her over. "Oh, Regina?"  
  
     "Yes?"  
  
     "I  _promise_ this number's untraceable. You don't want to spend all morning trying to get it to link back to my real identity." Emma was patronizing, she knew it, but  _hey_ she was going to let her have the interview, they could at least have fun.   
  
     "We'll see,  _Sarah._ " Regina shrugged at herself, or maybe the Savior over the phone.   
  
     "Not even close." Emma smiled and ended the call. 


	9. Chapter 9

     "Brought you something,"  _The Savior_ tossed a paper bag of donuts to a waiting Regina, who caught it... if ungracefully. All day Emma had struggled with the pit of her stomach being at odds about this; secret meetings with reporters never went well in the comics, well, except for all those secret relationships and that's...just not what this is about. Emma huffed a breath, clearing her mind. "Don't take this wrong way, but you sort of look surprised that I'm here."  
  
     Regina peeked into the bag, eyeing donuts and fought a smile. She wasn't  _surprised_ , necessarily, just pleasantly satisfied with the Savior's change of heart about an interview. And the fact that she  _had_ actually showed up for it.  
  
     "Don't take this the wrong way, but you stopped surprising me the night we met, Savior. I stopped knowing what to expect right then." It's an honest admission, and there's something about the emerging moonlight and a masked crusader that makes Regina feel like she's undermining the life she's supposed to want to have, and there's an exhilaration in that she's only a little scared of. Getting out her notes, she sat back against the rooftop's lip. "So, first of all. Why?"  
  
    "I'm gonna need something a little more specific than that," Emma folded up the mask's edges around her mouth, just inching it past her lips like something out of Spiderman. In real life, talking too much with the mask on itched the corners of her mouth; and the face Regina's making, like she's finally caught her prey, looks to Emma like she's going to be doing a lot of talking tonight.  
  
     "You know, why even do it?  _Put on the mask,_ " Regina teased, gesturing to the Savior's face. "What made you wanna help people the way you do?"  
  
     "I...figured my schedule wasn't busy enough?" Emma joked, running a hand down her other arm. "I noticed...I noticed that our stellar  _campus finest_ only really patrols certain parts of campus, especially at night. Ah, maybe don't print me criticizing the campus cops? They hate me enough already, I think;  _menace to society_ and _vigilante barbie_ and everything."  
  
    "You have a police scanner?" Regina blinked up, recognizing phrases campus police used to criticize the Savior. From where Regina was sitting, one girl trying to do good without even a good reason, just because she  _could_ , seemed like the cops might want her as an ally. But  _vigilante barbie,_ Regina rolled her eyes.   
  
    _"Y_ _ou_ have one? How many crime stoppers reports do they make you write?" Emma laughed at Regina's expression, all indignant knit brows and dark eyes. At the very least, she understood the Lois Lane appeal. Regina  _was_ the only person she really shared this secret with, Emma realized, shaking her head.   
  
    "Some of us just have hobbies," Regina replied, refocusing on her notes. "What  _can_ you actually do. You mentioned super strength? Was that... how did... were you born- like that?"   
  
     _Jeez, backflip into that much?_  Emma wanted to laugh.   
  
     "I guess it wasn't til I was older that I realized anything was different. A six year old with super strength can fight back against-" Emma cut herself off. What had she said about ironing out those personal details? Regina practically salivating over notes seemed like an undoubtedly bad sign. "Look, you asked me what changed my mind about the interview."  
  
    Regina nodded, looking to the Savior's face, trying to memorize any new details; pink lips poking out from under the mask, beautiful pale chin no longer smothered by black cotton.   
  
    "I don't think I'm the story, here, Regina." Emma's tone warned. "I think you're in danger, and I think you know that. You're smart and you've got this whole... unravel-a-mystery kick and I don't understand why you'd..." Emma trailed off, trying to find words to criticize Robin that didn't sound jealous, even to her. But this was a bigger deal than would-be romantic rivals and silly misguided crushes. "I think your boyfriend's part of a criminal organization, and I think you're being targeted by them." Rushing through the words, Emma bit her lip after, trying to ignore how hot her face was starting to feel.   
  
    "Boyfriend? Robin's not my..." Regina shook her head, flustered. "I mean, we... you know, something but it's not... I know about Robin's criminal friends. It's sort of a side-project, when I'm not preoccupied trying to pin down a certain blonde." Looking to the Savior's face, Regina couldn't detect much from the mask.   
  
    "You  _know_ he's dangerous? That's...Regina, that's ridiculous, you get that right? Reckless and ridi-"  
  
    "Culous, you mentioned that, yes. It's nothing serious as recklessness, you can calm down, it's not like I'm going to throw up a bat signal and expect you to come running to my aid. Besides, like you said, Gold wants something from me, I just haven't figured out what." Regina picked up her forgotten pen, tapping it against her leg. "Besides... Robin Locksley's... not really my  _type._ Chaste kisses and staging aside, he's kind of..." Boring sounds like a harsh word, but picking from a slew of criminal lackeys to honeypot information out of really sounded like it should've held her interest more.   
  
     Emma huffed a deep breath, lowering herself to sit next to Regina, and she can smell the girl's perfume- flowers, and mist or something expensive- as she reached across to fetch the bag of donuts.   
  
     "Cardboard?" Emma suggested. "I've been following him to his little gang pow-wows. They are...surprisingly not impressive. Look, I should really be going. The thing is, I really wanted to give you the heads up in case you were like, I don't know, falling for the guy or something. But hey, not your type." Between bites of donut, Emma realized she felt a certain amount of uneasy relief. Regina was smart, that was certain; now more than ever before Emma's glad to have a friendship of sorts like this. Rooftop donut interviews and all.   
  
     "Savior," Regina touched the girl's arm, "What's your major?" Looking into the girl's eyes, there's a goodness there Regina can admire; a goodness and a ferocity, and she's not sure how many seconds pass before the girl jumps up, out of reach.  
  
     "Basket-weaving," Comes her reply with a laugh, and Regina couldn't stop her eye roll watching the girl go down the building's fire escape. "I have a  _key_ out of the building you don't have to-"  
  
     With a  _plop_ the girl's boots hit the pavement, and Regina watched the Savior run across campus, shaking her head.  _Some interview_ , she thought, fishing a donut from the bag, and taking a deep breath. She wondered what Lois Lane would say to her. 


	10. the Drunken Monkey

    “Oh, come on mate, don’t tell me you’re actually falling for her.” The one they called  _ the Captain _ , Killian Jones, shoved Robin on the arm, and Emma’s attention refocused on them.    
  
    Following Robin and Killian into one of Mr. Gold’s bars, hadn’t been the plan  _ exactly, _ but Emma was out of her  _ Savior _ costume, just regular Emma Swan sitting at the bar, and Robin and Killian were talking about Regina, Emma could hear.    
  
    “She spends half her life working and the other half studying, I don’t even have the time to figure out if I could like her,” Robin whined, and Emma kept her eyeroll in check, barely.    
  
    Fiddling with her untouched beer on the bar’s surface, Emma knew what Regina had said. That Robin wasn’t her  _ type, _ and it’s not like Emma cared, but what Regina was doing with Robin  _ was _ incredibly dangerous. Even if he was only a half-witted criminal, and mostly a lackey. Killian, on the other hand, got his hands a bit dirtier than Robin. Rather than dating Gold’s targets, Killian surveilled them, questioned them, and not nicely.    
  
     “Should be an easy schedule to get down pat, then, unlucky business with that whole  _ Savior _ bit,” Killian swigged his beer and choked an uneasy laugh. “I don’t know why Gold doesn’t just hurry the whole thing along.”   
  
    “I hear you. I can’t believe Regina let that name stick, if she knew how unhappy her mum-”   
  
    Cutting Robin off with a glare, Killian whispered something too low for Emma to hear, but that only made her more curious.    
  
    Regina’s security on campus was compromised, not because of her mother’s position but because of her mother. Emma made the mental note that it was time to look into Cora Mills more fully.    
  
    “Doesn’t matter anyway, tomorrow night we’re supposed to go-”    
  
    Cut off again, Robin saw Regina enter the bar, and Emma followed his line of sight to the main entrance, and saw Regina, too.    
  
    Less rattled than last time, mostly Emma wanted to know what she was doing there.  _ The Drunken Monkey _ was hardly a place the president’s daughter should’ve been frequenting, and Emma knew enough about Regina Mills to suspect this was an investigation rather than a social call. Putting her hair up into a bun, Emma laughed at herself, wondering if she should pick up some fake glasses. Turning her back to Regina, Emma kept her head down, and tried to weigh her options. She didn’t want to interact with Regina, not as herself, but the  _ Savior _ couldn’t show up here and have it be coincidence.    
  
    With a quick glance, Emma saw Regina getting a drink at the other end of the bar, and smiling Robin’s way. Biting her lip, Emma took quick steps to the bar’s bathroom, and locked the door behind her.    
  
     Taking a deep breath, Emma let her hair down, and leaned back on the sink, letting her eyes drift up. Catching her eye on the fire sprinkler, Emma had an idea. Up on top of the toilet seat, leaning over the stall, she could just barely catch her lighter on the sprinkler, and sighed with relief when the sprinkler went off, and so did the fire alarm.    
  
    As the bar cleared out, and patrons were sprinkled on, Emma emerged from the bathroom wet but relieved, and followed the rest of the crowd out onto the street, and tried to look for Robin, Regina, or Killian. But she couldn’t find any of them in the crowd of soggy co-eds. 


End file.
